Argentines are choosing a new president in an election rocked by the emergence as front-runner of anti-establishment populist and self-styled “libertarian” Javier Milei.
Mr. Milei is a strong right-wing economist who talks boldly and uses social media a lot to connect with younger voters.
His win in the primary election has made his main rivals feel pressured.
Right now, Argentina is facing a really tough economic situation. It’s the third biggest economy in Latin America, but many people are struggling. Prices are going up a lot, and the money isn’t worth as much. About 40% of people are living in poverty.
Argentina owes a huge amount of money, $46 billion, to a group called the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Usually, in elections, the left-wing Peronist group and the centre-right opposition are the main players. Sergio Massa from Peronist is the current economy minister, and Patricia Bullrich from the centre-right is a former security minister.
However, the campaign has been turned on its head by the success of Javier Milei in the primaries in August.
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Mr. Milei won against Ms. Bullrich and Mr. Massa, and he’s still leading in the polls.
Two other candidates, Myriam Bregman and Juan Schiaretti, are behind the top three.
Mr. Milei has clashed with Mr. Massa and Ms. Bullrich because he strongly dislikes “communists” and even disagrees with Pope Francis.
He suggests fixing inflation by getting rid of Argentina’s central bank and using the US dollar instead of the Argentine peso, which he doesn’t like.
In his campaign events, the 52-year-old has shown big fake dollar bills to support his idea. He’s also brought out a chainsaw to show he wants to cut down what he believes is a too-big government system that’s serving a group of politicians he thinks are taking advantage.
While shouting “Long Live Freedom, damn it!” he promised to make the government smaller by shutting down the sport, culture, and women’s ministries. He also plans to combine health and education.
On the other hand, 51-year-old Mr. Massa is trying to support the Peronist group’s efforts in social and work matters. He explains that the strict money-saving steps his government took were because of the big debt to the IMF from the last centre-right leadership.
Ms. Bullrich, who is 67 years old, wants to use both the peso and the dollar in the economy, which means people can freely use either. This would also make it easier to exchange between them.
She’s presenting herself as someone who is strict about law and order, and some even call her Argentina’s “Iron Lady”. She’s promising to bring “order” back to the country. In August, there were a lot of cases of shops being looted, and some cities have been dealing with more violence related to drug trafficking.
She’s criticized Mr. Milei, saying he’s not emotionally stable, and she’s told Mr. Massa, who used to be the economy minister, to explain how he could be the best president when he was the worst at managing the economy.
According to surveys, it’s likely there will be a second round of voting on November 19. To win in the first round, a candidate needs to get more than 45% of the votes, or at least 40% with a lead of 10 percentage points over the closest competitor. With five candidates, this is tough, but not impossible.
Apart from picking a new president and vice-president for four years, Argentine voters will also be choosing 130 new members for the lower house of Congress (which has 257 members) and 24 new senators for the upper house (which has 72 members).
SOURCE:BBC